


Smile

by castielanie



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-07
Updated: 2015-03-07
Packaged: 2018-03-16 16:29:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3495182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/castielanie/pseuds/castielanie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lovino reminisces about the first time Antonio made him smile.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Smile

The sky was shrouded in a dark blanket of clouds, showering the small Sicilian town with pounding rain as thunder boomed around me. My umbrella was struggling to stay in my hand, the wind threatening to rip it from my grasp as well as passing my thick coat and freezing the skin of my chest. I cursed inwardly as I checked my slightly waterlogged watch, reading the time.

"Damnit, 7 o'clock... my idiot fratello was supposed to be here an hour ago..." i _Probably forgot about me and went to hang out with that potato bastard. Figures._  "Guess I'm walking back to Nonno's."

I gripped my umbrella with both hands and turned my face to the ground, squinting my eyes to the miniscule droplets of rain that started to splatter in my face. The wind became colder as the rain began to soak my jacket, and I quickened my pace when the familiar but still lengthy streets came into view.

Not but a few minutes later, another regretfully familiar thing pulled up to the side of the gravel road next to me– a certain cherry red Fornasari that belonged to a certain Spanish bastard I'd hoped I wouldn't have to run into again.

He cracked open his window, wincing as a splash of water sprayed his face. "What are you doing out here in the rain, Lovi?"

"Go away, bastard," I spat, gripping my umbrella even tighter and walking ahead.

He shifted his car into drive and crept alongside me, speeding up the faster I walked. "C'mon Lovi, I'll give you a ride back to my place. You can get dried off–"

"No way in hell."

"What if I just drive you to your Abuelo's?" he asked, parking his car, placing an arm over the edge of his window and looking up at me. "Please? I don't want you to get sick, Lovi."

"Goddamnit, would you stop calling me that?! There's still no way in hell I'm getting in a car with you!" I yelled, now angrily walking towards the corner of the crossroads in front of me. The Spaniard pulled out of park again and followed, and as another boom of thunder echoed throughout the clouds, I heard his engine rev and his car shoot past me, sending a blast of wind with him. I watched his taillights as they flickered, and I stopped in my own tracks when I saw Antonio slam his door behind him and come jogging towards me.

I looked up at him when he stood in front of me, a stupid grin on his face. "What the hell do you think you're doing."

"I'm not letting you get sick, my Lovi~ so I guess I have to force you to come with me." Before I could pry my hand from my umbrella handle and punch him in the stomach, he shoved it from my hold and placed a hand onto my waist, easily lifting me onto his shoulder and stalking back to the Fornasari.

The damned bastard was unreceptive to my insults and my punches, as usual. "Goddamnit Antonio, put me down! This might be alright with your perv friends Rapist and the potato bastard's brother, and even my fucking stupido fratello–" he cut me off as he jerked open the passenger door and practically threw me into the seat, making sure my feet were completely in the car before slamming it shut.

I gripped the handle next to me, but the lock only clicked and refused to budge. "What the fuck, you Spanish bastard, open the door! I told you I'm not getting in a car with you!"

He only ignored me though as he plopped happily into the driver seat and closed his own door, turning the key and clicking the car into drive, placing one hand on the wheel.

I turned to him and assumed the nastiest look I could muster, folding my arms. "You know that this is technically kidnapping, right?"

"It's not kidnapping, Lovi! I'm just giving you a ride. Unwillingly," he chimed, grinning his stupid idiot smile.

"...Goddamnit. The only reason you're not getting ripped to pieces is because I don't want to die in a car accident."

"I know."

I kept the damn silence in the car  _silent_  for as long as I could, until we came to a road very close to Nonno's, where a tall tree blocked the pathway completely, its trunk so thick you could barely see over to the other side of the street.

"Fuck, this is the  _only_  way to get back! Where did that damned tree come from!?" I shouted, throwing my arms up in front of me in frustration.

"Sorry, Lovi, the winds are pretty strong... I guess I'll take you back to my house and we can–"

"Hell if I can help it," I yelled, gripping his wrist as it began to turn the steering wheel.

"What's wrong?" He turned his head back from where it was, redundantly looking for cars on the desolate Italian streets.

"I'M NOT GOING TO YOUR GODDAMN HOUSE, YOU IDIOT!"

"...Well do you have a better idea?" He raised his eyebrows pointedly at me, his naïve expression turning to a sarcastic one. I could feel my own countenance get even nastier, and I dug my fingernails into the skin of his wrist.

"You're damn right I have a better idea," I yelled, letting go of his arm and turning to the now unlock-able door, but before I reached for the switch, I let out a sigh of complaint when I saw the rate at which the rain was pouring down now.

I jumped when a crack of thunder shook the windshield, and as I heard Antonio stifle a laugh, I slammed my head onto the headrest and lifted my arms to cover my face.

"Fine. Shit, you win. Just take me somewhere dry."

"Will do, mi amore~"

* * *

By the time we reached the Spaniard's house, the rain hadn't ceased to beat the shit out of the top of the car. "Just grab your umbrella and we'll be inside and warm and dry in no time, okay?" He cooed before he exited the Fornasari, smiling his stupid smile again.

"Bleh," but I did as he said, and as I gripped my umbrella, I flipped the lock on the door and crashed my feet onto the ground, making my way to the large España themed home as fast as I could without looking ridiculous. In the short amount of time he was outside I could see he'd already gotten soaked to the bone, but he'd made it to the front, unlocking the door while he stood under the short ceiling that only partly shielded him from the rain, and he shivered as a large gust of heat blasted towards him from the house.

I stomped through the door and dropped the nearly useless umbrella onto the floor, shivering just as Antonio did, and he shut the cold out as the front door closed behind him.

"Is the house warm enough, Lovi?" he asked, his feet shuffling quickly across the floor as he grabbed a blanket from his loft, though his hands remained rubbing his arms frantically as he tried to warm himself.

"Yeah, I'm fine bastard, just worry about yourself." The Spaniard was shivering violently now, looking at me with unnecessary worry. He draped the blanket around my shoulders and guided me to the couch in his foyer, where he left me as he walked over to the adjacent wall and smashed the buttons on the thermostat as he willed the heat to increase. "Damn drafty house," I heard him mutter under his breath.

"Uh... c'mon, Antonio, I'm fine, seriously... you're shaking..." I yanked the blanket from my shoulders and held out the soft thick fabric out to him, but he waved it away and began pacing along the tiled floors. His hands shot into the pockets of his jeans and his shoulders hunched over, his body struggling to retain his heat.

"Gah, dumbass, just take the blanket," I stomped over to him and wrapped it around his shoulders, forcing his hands from his pockets and the ends of the fabric into his palms, closing his fingers around them. I placed a hand on the small of his back and pushed him towards the couch, where he plopped down and drew his still sneaker-covered feet onto the seat.

He looked up at me and his brow furrowed more, the worry swelling on his expression, and he lifted an arm, draping the edge of the blanket on the back as he nodded to me.

"...Nope. No way in hell, Antonio. Not gonna happen."

"Please?" His puppy dog eyes kicked in, but they were no longer the bright vivid green they usually were. He and my brother had known each other long enough to where I'd spent a damn good amount of time with the guy, and that had been adequate to where I was close enough to him to know that whenever his eyes grew that dark, his immune system was failing, and he was falling ill.

_I guess I did cause the bastard to get soaked... it was me he was picking up in the rain, really..._

"...Shit. Fine." I hesitantly looked at him and his pleading gaze, and I shuffled my freezing feet towards the chocolate colored couch. I sat down, and he wrapped his arm around my shoulders, bringing me closer than I'd anticipated to his chest and tightening the thick blanket around the both of us.

I growled in annoyance as he nuzzled his head in the crook of my neck, but I couldn't bring myself to push him away as much as I wanted to. The bastard needed all the damn heat he could get. So much for being Spanish and 'hot-blooded.'

"You're lucky your immune system is shit and I'm not a total jackass." I muttered, taking the blanket from his hand as his shivers diminished slightly. "Otherwise you'd have an ass full of foot right now."

"Thank you, Lovi."

I could feel my face ignite as the blood rushed up to my cheeks, but I remained calm.  _What's the idiot so damn thankful for?_

I closed my eyes for a moment and relaxed, letting my arm hang from my grip the edge of the blanket, but when I opened them again, the Spaniard's face was directly in front of mine, a look of pure astonishment plastered on his mug.

"What the hell are you looking at, bastard?"

He pointed to my face, his disbelieving grin widening as his eyes brightened up again. "That was a smile."

"What?" I directed my attention to my expression, and felt that the corners of my mouth were starting to curl upward. I turned my face sour as quickly as I could, and crossed my arms as I let the blanket fall around my shoulder.

"That was a smile!" Antonio shouted happily, the bright jade of his eyes now fully revived. "I caught you!"

"Like hell that was a smile!" I shouted, turning my face away from him.  _Goddamnit, what is he talking about? I don't smile!_

He chuckled, and pressed a light peck to my heated cheek. "Fine, but I know what I saw. I saw Lovino Romano Vargas smile."

"Humph."

* * *

His retelling played through my mind as he spoke to the crowd, his sickeningly dazzling evergreen eyes staring at me, and I could feel my cheeks getting brighter and brighter with each word he told. I knew what I would have done a year ago– I would yell and curse at him and stomp away after giving him a good sock to the stomach– but now, even though I got that same impulse that almost made my fists want to clench, I just couldn't do anything as I stood, his affectionate gaze turning me to stone.

"And I knew, since that day, ever since I saw that genuine, happy smile you decided to give me– that the only thing I'd ever want would be to make you smile like that on our wedding day."

_...Damnit. That bastard always had a way with words._

"Do you, Antonio Fernandez Carriedo, take Lovino Vargas, to be your lawfully wedded husband, 'til death do you part?" The notary asked, beaming as he looked up at the man across from me.

"I do," Antonio muttered indisputably, his lips curling into a subtle smile.

My heart beat faster, and as a small movement caught my eye, I turned my head to the left, where my brother stood, a white satin pillow balanced on his hands. He leaned forward and plastered that airhead grin on his lips, winking.

"I made sure I made it on time this go around, fratello~" he cooed as he raised the pillow, catching a ray of sunlight on the plain silver rings that sat in the center of the fabric. He nodded towards them, staring pointedly at the Spaniard's fingers that were entwined in mine.

I quickly and somewhat awkwardly untangled my fingers from Antonio's, taking a band when my brother's eyes started to fill with tears. The Spaniard bit his lip as my face fully flushed, but I slipped a ring over his finger as I held it in my hand.

"And do you, Lovino Vargas, take Antonio Fernandez Carriedo, to be your lawfully wedded husband, 'til death do you part?"

My face reddened even further, so much it was a miracle I wasn't sweating in the simple black suit I was encased in. "I d-do."

_Goddamnit, I couldn't even say those two words without stuttering..._

Antonio gracefully picked the remaining silver ring from the satin and slid it over my finger as he laced our hands together again, and with another dopey, caring, dense,  _amazing_  smile, he looked at the notary.

"Repeat after me," he advised, clasping his hands in front of him. Antonio nodded with delight, and the officiant looked to me, his eyes still gleaming with happiness. I nodded, biting my lips nervously, and cleared my throat.

_Okay. Romano. Lovino Romano Vargas. You aren't going to mess this up. You have to do this perfectly._

_Do it... do it for Antonio. Do it for... the man you're m-... ma..._

"Marrying." I whispered, so low under my breath that no one, not even myself, could hear.

"I, Antonio Fernandez Carriedo, take you, Lovino Vargas," the man began, nodding to the Spaniard.

"I, Antonio, Fernandez, Carriedo, take you, Lovino, Vargas," Antonio repeated, his smile widening between each spoken word.

"To have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer," he paused.

"To have and to hold," he began again, tightening his fingers around mine, "from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer..."

"In sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, for as long as we both shall live."

"In sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, for as long as we both shall live, and longer." He tightened his fingers again and closed his eyes for a minute, and I could have sworn that I saw a little glint of a tear beneath his eyelashes.

_Is he... crying?_

"And I, Lovino Romano Vargas, take you, Antonio Fernandez Carriedo," the officiant continued.

 _Okay Roma. You can do this._ "And I, Lovino Vargas, take y-you, Antonio Fernandez... Carriedo..." I could feel my hands start to shake in his, and his eyes opened, his expression beginning to cloud with worry.

Without any warning, the Spaniard leant down and pressed a kiss to my forehead, muttering the first unscripted thing since his anecdote. "You can do this, mi amore."

"To have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer..."

"To have and to hold, from this day forward..." I spoke, his forehead resting against mine, our fingers still entwined tightly in front of us, "for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer..."

I quickly stole a glance into the crowd, catching the sights of all of our guests– Gilbert, Antonio's best man, grinning his trademark smirk as he stared proudly at him; Lizzie, holding a tissue to her cheek; Arthur and Alfred sitting next to each other, with their hands entwined and smiles upon their faces; my brother Feliciano, who was full-on gasping for air as he cried tears of joy, and even the potato bastard himself, who was trying to quiet his sobs.

"In sickness and in hea–"

"In sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, for as long as we both shall live and damn longer if I can help it."

"Well then, by the power invested in me and el Rein de España, I pronounce you lovingly married!" With that, the officiant spread his arms wide and nodded to us, his bright smile crinkling the old skin around his eyes, but I'd already pulled Antonio close to me, placing my hands on the sides of his face and pressing my lips to his. "You may... uh, continue kissing your groom," he chuckled.

* * *

After we parted, I looked up at him as cheers and speech roared from the audience, and my body went rigid as I saw the tracks of tears on his cheeks. "W-what are you crying for, bastard!"

He shut his eyes and wrapped his arms around me, nearly crushing me as my feet were lifted off the ground. "This is the happiest moment of my life, Lovino Vargas. I love you so, so much."

I could feel the tears building up in my eyes as well, and my voice caught as I urged my vocal chords to speak, but regardless of every little emotional blow that I've taken over the years, or every little agitating remark I'd have to deal with in spending the  _rest of my life_  with Antonio... I willed myself to erase the nasty expression I'd unknowingly withheld during the entire ceremony.

When he placed me back on my feet, I let out a breath and gave him a bright smile, the happiest I could muster, and I laced my fingers with his. "I love you too."


End file.
